Animated Characters at EPCOT World Showcase. Like or Dislike?

[ti2gr]

I have no problems with the characters being in World Showcase and it has been my experience that the Character meet and greets are primarily in the correct countries. Here is a list of characters that I have seen at World Showcase in the past few year.

Canada - Brother Bear Characters Koda and Kenai (sp)
United Kingdom - Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet, Mary Poppins, Burt, Cruella DeVil
France - Beauty and the Beast, Hunchback, Esmeralda, and the evil guy from Hunchback, I think his name was Clopin
Morocco - Aladdin, Jasmine, Genie, Jafar
Germany - Snow White, Dopey
China - Mulan, Mushu
Norway - All the Princesses, which is totally out of place. BRING BACK THE ORIGINAL AKERSHAUS
Mexico - The Three Caballeros

I don't think it would be fitting to see the characters outside theie respective countries in World Showcase. I am sure that Disney does have some characters that can be represented in every country at World Showcase and it would be cool to see more of the characters in those countries. Sometimes it seems to be a hit or miss thing because I don't think these character offerings are publicized much, except for maybe the Morocco, France and UK areas where it seems they have built specific meet and greet areas and many times even have a Photo Pass photographer there too. In the other countries they were just there in a corner of the pavilion like they just happened to be there at that moment.

I would not want to see it get out of hand and one day finding say, Belle and Beast in Japan, or even Mulan in Japan, or the Three Caballeros in front of The American Adventure, although with the way everything seems to be going with the spanish subtitles appearing everywhere, that is not so far fetched.

I have not seen any characters yet in Japan, Italy or the United States. United Statescould host a number of characters, but I can't recall any that would be appropriate for Italy or Japan as yet, except maybe The Power Rangers in Japan, but they are in Disney-MGM usually.

As for Norway, don't think Disney has any Norwegian charaters, but they did do that horrible injustice to Norway by putting the Princes character dining experience there. They ruined a fantastic Norwegian dining area (my favorite Epcot restaurant before the Princess' moved in) . The Princess' are from various countries and therefore are out of place in Norway.

[naumoney]

(I know I'm going back pretty far, sorry)

It still can be worked so that it fits just by changing the end and having Nemo to encourage us all to learn more about the ocean in the main pavilion.

Well, I think they have already done this. While much of the ride has no educational value, the end shows the characters in the real tank, drawing children's attention to it, and it continues to wrap around the wall as you exit the ride. When ever I'm in there, I always see people crowding off the ride to the escalator to the upper viewing area.

Then have several educational areas about the ocean which are hilighted by various Nemo characters.

Theres the area on sharks hosted by Bruce and his pals, and the new Turtle Talk area has Mr. Ray's Pop Quiz, as well as displays and tanks showing off Nemo's real life world.

[Raidermatt]

Last July, we saw Chip and Dale in China.

We had just been to China in February and had visited the real Temple of Heavan, which is what the China pavilion is based on. When my then 7-year old son saw Chip and Dale frolicking about in the pavilion, he said, with absolutely no prompting from anyone else, "That's just wrong."

[Mr. EPCOT]

I think the characters are fine in World Showcase, but I don't think under any circumstances they should be in Future World.

[Coheteboy]

France - Beauty and the Beast, Hunchback, Esmeralda, and the evil guy from Hunchback, I think his name was Clopin.

Evil guy from Hunchback is Judge Claude Frollo. Clopin is the gypsy with the purple mask.

[toonaspie]

I thought that the cast of Pinocchio would be in Italy.

[Keeper]

For years EPCOT had the fab five in space suits in Future World, and each country of World Showcase had characters in national dress. They still market the stuffed versions. EPCOT is our favorite park, but it is a tough day for kids once in the World Showcase. The characters are good for this purpose. They used to all ride around in a double-decker bus in February for Mardi Gras.

[ZeekSlider]

Last July, we saw Chip and Dale in China.

We had just been to China in February and had visited the real Temple of Heavan, which is what the China pavilion is based on. When my then 7-year old son saw Chip and Dale frolicking about in the pavilion, he said, with absolutely no prompting from anyone else, "That's just wrong."

While Chip & Dale are my favorite characters. I have to agree with your son. The two or even just one of them being in ANY of the Asian pavilions dressed in national dress would just read the wrong way to the Western Audiance, especially in this age of being PC or you get your butt sued.

That being said, I want some of Japan's Chip & Dale merchendise! You can never find some of the stuff those chipmunks get at TDL, especially as cute as they make it!

[ti2gr]

Evil guy from Hunchback is Judge Claude Frollo. Clopin is the gypsy with the purple mask.

I knew Clopin didn't sound right. Just couldn't think of the name at the time of the post Thanx!